Dunlop SP Sport tires- observations

SamirD · Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:09 am

I talked to Steve at Ray Suzuki (Chevrolet) today about the cracking issue. He told me that he's seen it quite often, but that Dunlop won't do anything about it, even when customers have insisted on having tires sent back. They technically have a 0 mile warranty, although they can last as long as 40k (the best he's ever seen them do on a Kizashi).

twoqttsdad · Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:31 am

Called "weather checking" by many tire folk. I don't see any approved warranty claims here for such as they can be very common often in hot climates. Not that it has never happened but I haven't seen deep cracking in newer radial tires that lead to tread separation. Only on the old stuff like 10 years or more years old when the owner doesn't drive much. It's a little odd though that only the outside shoulder shows most of these cracks. It's like the compound and internal construction of it both don't hold up well to "scrub" or city driving. Just a speculation though.

LPSISRL · Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:08 pm

SamirD wrote: They technically have a 0 mile warranty, although they can last as long as 40k (the best he's ever seen them do on a Kizashi).

I'm at 45k miles and counting. Still plenty of tread left but a little squirrelly at highway speed in heavy rain.

redmed · Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:34 pm

After 31K I had enough with the Dunlop's. Never had a tire that had so many flat tires, noisy and balance issues when they got older. Not to mention poor wet performance (hydroplaning).

LPSISRL · Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:38 pm

redmed wrote:After 31K I had enough with the Dunlop's. Never had a tire that had so many flat tires, noisy and balance issues when they got older. Not to mention poor wet performance (hydroplaning).

Funny how mine have never had a flat (knock on wood) and they've remained in perfect balance since I got the car 12K miles ago. There's 45K on them now. While they MAY be a little noisy, I have nothing to compare them to. I think all tires are noisy when on various road types. Depends on which road type and which tire in my opinion.

Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:54 pm

LPSISRL wrote:
redmed wrote:After 31K I had enough with the Dunlop's. Never had a tire that had so many flat tires, noisy and balance issues when they got older. Not to mention poor wet performance (hydroplaning).
Funny how mine have never had a flat (knock on wood) and they've remained in perfect balance since I got the car 12K miles ago. There's 45K on them now. While they MAY be a little noisy, I have nothing to compare them to. I think all tires are noisy when on various road types. Depends on which road type and which tire in my opinion.

I think you're the rare exception. Your previous owner may have had the alignment issue addressed if you did not yourself. You also live in the South where temperature extremes are not really an issue. I'm not far from you in Maryland, but my tires have worn unevenly due to the alignment issue and the treads are cracking. My car is not stored indoors unless when I'm at work so the tires are often exposed to the elements.
Ride quality has diminished significantly from the time I bought the car at 7,500 miles. More than road noise, it's how the ride feels over road imperfections. I believe the increased harshness of the ride coincides with the tires' rubber drying out and hardening (hence the cracking).
Also consider that these Dunlops are more expensive than many of the competition which offer much better performance in many regards (traction, wear, noise, etc.).
Given that problems with the OEM tires are common among owners, there is little reason for people to go back to this overpriced, under-performing tire.

Speed_Racer · Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:28 pm

They're crap tires. Mine have cracking at the edge too and I'm almost to the wear bars at 21k miles which I consider unacceptable. I definitely won't be replacing them with a new set of the same.

Firefly · Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:04 am

I'm considering looking into the Mazda6 to replace the Kiz when the lease is up. Unfortunately it comes with the same Dunlops! Doh!

SamirD · Thu Apr 03, 2014 4:35 am

Firefly wrote:I'm considering looking into the Mazda6 to replace the Kiz when the lease is up. Unfortunately it comes with the same Dunlops! Doh!

If they're a different size or batch, they may be perfect.

Check the Mazda forums for 'dunlops suck'

LPSISRL · Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:30 pm

Mine are from a 2010 batch. No cracking. A little uneven wear on the insides but not bad. I did have it aligned just after I bought it after seeing the problems outlined in this forum. I think the previous owner/driver, (Naval officer's wife) babied the car. It looked almost brand spankin' new when it had 33k miles on it except for tire wear, a small rip on the driver's side A piller and some curb rash I didn't notice until later. Since I traded in my SX4 on it and our other car is an Odyssey, for me the ride feel is the ride feel. I am very curious as to how that will change when I put new tires on it. But for now, I'm not in any real hurry to spend $700 plus for new tires. As far as I'm concerned, these stick like glue to the road and the car handles great. It's actually scary how fast I can take curves and corners. But then again, at 53, maybe I'm a little more hesitant to push to the limits. Buk buk!